Knicks 106, Heat 104: The knife’s edge
The distance between winning and losing is practically non-existent.
This is how you win her. You ride the knife’s edge as long as it takes.
The New York Knicks lead the Miami Heat 95-93 with under 2:30 to play and five on the shot clock. RJ Barrett has the ball on the right wing, guarded by Tyler Herro; Jimmy Butler waits with one foot in the restricted area; Bam Adebayo lurks between the 3-point line and the free throw line, waiting to swoop in.
Two dribbles and some elbow grease gets RJ past Herro. Gabe Vincent, guarding Immanuel Quickley in the corner, runs off him immediately in chase of Barrett. As RJ turns right down the lane, Adebayo swipes rather than swoops and comes up empty. Butler, the last line of defense but a ghost of himself all night, doesn’t react. At all. Barrett’s finger-roll high off the glass tickles the twine. If Adebayo had taken one more step toward RJ before he turned, if Butler had shown any semblance of life, if the shot had a little less loft or a little more English to it, none of this happens. But it did.
Under two minutes left and it’s 97-95 Knicks. RJ is now guarded by Vincent. Butler’s on Randle on the wing. RJ takes a dribble in that direction and Butler, mistakenly thinking RJ’s passing it to Randle, jumps the passing lane; seeing this, Randle cuts toward the basket, but RJ keeps his dribble, so Randle heads to the dunker’s spot. The moment Barrett gets Vincent into the paint, Butler flies at him strong side while Max Strus approaches from behind. RJ dishes to Randle down low, which draws Adebayo and creates two openings: Quentin Grimes completely wide-open weakside and Randle with an open line of vision to see it. If Butler didn’t jump the lane, if he and Strus didn’t push for a triple-team, if Randle held the ball for a single second before dishing, Grimes is never open for that shot, and none of this happens. But it did.
Soon after that, RJ shoots from close-and-in range, forcing an Adebayo contest that’s ruled goaltending. Miami appeals. It was a close call – the shot was blocked almost simultaneously to it hitting the backboard – but the right call. Again: knife’s edge.
Soon after that, New York leads 102-99 and is inbounding at midcourt. RJ makes a dangerous pass to Randle, guarded by Bam, and the Heat All-Star steals it and is ahead of the field on his way the other way. Randle fouls him, preventing the breakaway dunk, though Adebayo makes the two free throws. The Knicks couldn’t inbound for their lives the last couple of minutes. Foul Bam a split second earlier or later and maybe he’s looking at a 3-point play. None of this happens, though it easily could have.
Knicks up 104-101. Barrett is doubled near the sideline by Butler and Tyler Herro. He gets the ball to Grimes, who catches and gets into the lane, where he’s met by Strus. There’s contact, but it’s a split-second after Grimes finds Isaiah Hartenstein underneath for the dunk. If Strus is a split-second earlier rotating to Grimes, he might have drawn a charge. If the field of chaos magic that follows Hartenstein around all day is paying attention, maybe he drops the pass or it slips out of his hands as he rises. None of this happens, though.
The moment that seems to mark the end of hostilities caps a zany back-and-forth sequence that covers all 94 feet of possibility, the knife’s edge run amok. None of this had to happen, and both teams would blush a little over their roles in it. But it did, and at the end of it New York lead 106-101 with a few seconds left.
But no team is better at coming back than the Heat, who’d won 10 games this year they trailed entering the fourth. And no team is a more generous host than the Knicks. So natch hostilities continued. After a Strus three cuts it to 106-104, the Knicks again have trouble inbounding under their basket and have to use their last timeout. They advance to halfcourt but still have trouble inbounding. Grimes finds Randle, but he slips and falls; at first the officials call a foul on Adebayo, who never touched his fellow All-Star. Miami win the appeal, take possession and keep their timeout, and over alllll that time Erik Spoelstra is drawing up something good for his team down two with two seconds left. Herro, who had a terrific shooting night, ends up with a good look.
Herro could have made the shot, could’ve put his team three games ahead of the Knicks in the chase for the last playoff spot. Could’ve, but didn’t. All of these could’ves the last few minutes! Turn any one of them around and this morning the East Coast would be cold and sad. But the Knicks, led by their 22-year-old who was benched and more than a little pissed about it late in the Laker loss, won at home against a team that’s given them nuggies and nipple twists for years. Junot Diaz wrote a short story collection called This Is How You Lose Her. The last 150 seconds of last night’s game saw the Knicks author a collection of moments culminating in another encouraging Mitchell Robinson-less victory. The knife’s edge is a tough place to be; it cuts and bleeds all it encounters. The Knicks showed a lot of heart. They bled, but they bled for a common cause. That’s how you win.
